Balatro wins formal appeal to reclassify poker game as PEGI 12

Balatro, the poker-themed roguelite, has successfully appealed PEGI’s decision to classify it as PEGI 18 and has now been recategorised as suitable for players aged 12 and up.

About a year ago, developer Localthunk commented on PEGI’s perceived mishandling of the game’s rating after it was pulled from sale in some countries due to a “mistaken belief that the game ‘contains prominent gambling imagery and materials that instructs about gambling'”, stating “it is what it is”.

“The PEGI 18 rating for the game Balatro has been changed to a PEGI 12 following a successful appeal submitted by publisher Sold Out Sales & Marketing,” the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) organisation announced on its website earlier today.

“The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating.”

Similarly, Luck Be A Landlord has also been reclassified as PEGI 12.

“At this moment, any teaching or glamorisation of simulated gambling automatically leads to a PEGI 18 rating,” the ratings board stated.

“On the basis of these appeals, the PEGI Experts Group will develop a more granular set of classification criteria to handle gambling themes and the simulation, teaching and glamorisation of gambling in different age categories, which will now include 12 but also keep 18 as an age category for games that simulate gambling typically played in casinos and betting halls.”

Balatro recently passed 5m copies sold. That’s more than double the sales since last August, when the game passed 2m copies sold. Since then, it’s released on mobile and has seen a surge in popularity following its multiple wins at last year’s The Game Awards.